In training military and other personnel in weapons gunnery and marksmanship, it has been attempted in the past to utilize laser emissions instead of live ammunition at the firing point and a form of detection of laser impingement at the target or aiming point together with some audible or visible indication that a hit has been made on the target or aiming point.
One such method which has been suggested and utilized is to place an array of, for example, up to a dozen solar cells together with transformers and detectors and other electronic amplifying equipment directly to the target such that when the target is impinged by the laser beam from the firing point, at least one of the detectors will detect its presence and generate an alarm of some sort through the solar cell pick-up and electronic amplifier equipment to activate a hit indicator.
Another system which has been suggested and utilized in the past is to construct a portion of the target from retroreflective means which would reflect the impinged laser beam constituting a hit on the target all the way back to the firing point where a detector is located and that detector would pick up the retroreflected beam and provide an audible and/or visible indication that a hit had been achieved.
Both of these systems are cumbersome, limited in range and accuracy, and expensive. Furthermore, the particular array of solar cells used or the construction of a suitable retroreflector severely limit the nature and extent of the shape and location of the various target areas which may provide a less than desirable training program for certain types of targets.
In short, the versatility of the prior art systems is severely limited.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a new and novel laser type marksmanship and weapons gunnery training system which is more versatile than prior art systems.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new and novel marksmanship and weapons gunnery system utilizing laser emissions and reflective target devices which have an extended range.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new and novel marksmanship and weapons gunnery system utilizing laser emissions and reflective target means including detector amplifier and hit indicator means located in close proximity to the target means.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more fully apparent with reference to the following specification and drawings which relate to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.